Plum Crazy

Arizona has two growing seasons compared to other places. We can have a wonderful garden during the winter and spring. The summer, however, is pretty dreary in the produce area. Fortunately we have close neighbors with great growing seasons. Recently I was able to procure around 20 pound of plums from California. They were organic and looked beautiful.

I set them out for eating, since the small people love eating fresh fruit. These plums just sat. I cut them up for meals, but no one under 8 ate them. When I asked what was wrong, each told me that they were too sweet and juicy. I could not believe it.

So, I had a box of plums to eat or store while temperatures outside hovered in the 110s. I procrastinated a bit, but I could not ignore them for long as they were occupying valuable refrigerator space. This weekend I finally succumbed and pulled out the canning equipment.

All went really smoothly and I didn't overheat the house too much. I made plum jam, plum chutney and plum conserve, because I had so many plums. I used Pomonas Universal Pectin, so I could cut the amount of sugar needed significantly. The plum jam and chutney recipes originated from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. It took a lot longer than I had planned as it seems everything does. Although it was not my harvest to preserve, I now have quite a few jars of plum preserves for the cooler months to spread on toast or have with roasts.

Plum Conserve, Plum Chutney and Plum Jam